Give Trust Until It Is Violated: Interview with Bill Yeargin, CEO of Correct Craft
I recently went one on one with Bill Yeargin, CEO of Correct Craft.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Bill: Thanks Adam, the opportunity is appreciated.
Oddly enough Adam, I never aspired to be a CEO. In my thirties, writing a monthly magazine column on leadership resulted in invitations to speak at conferences all over the world. I’ve spoken on every continent except Antarctica and wanted to use the wonderful contacts developed at those meetings to start a consulting firm.
While in the process of starting a consulting firm, Correct Craft recruited me to become their CEO. I had turned them down for the same job eighteen months earlier, but the second time decided to pursue the opportunity.
Arriving as Correct Craft’s fifth CEO in five years, it was a mess. Fortunately, our great team was able to turn it around and we have seen 25X growth. Our team has been able to revitalize the company and reach heights our founders could not have imagined. Correct Craft is an amazing century old company with a rich heritage. For those interested, my book “Making Life Better: The Correct Craft Story” tells some amazing stories that make up that heritage.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Bill: Adam, a leader can accomplish almost anything if he or she will do three things. 1. Find the right people; always think “Who, not how.” 2. Provide clarity, specifically regarding the mission, vision, why, strategic plan and budgets. 3. Provide energy. The leader must be the fuel that drives their team.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Bill: In the end an effective leader is someone who gets results. At Correct Craft we say often that Results > Activity. As I mentioned above, to get great results a leader needs the right people, clarity, and energy.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Bill: First, it is important to understand what holds leaders back from achieving their potential. Most leaders think they are held back by their company, boss, market, spouse, location, or a plethora of other environmental factors. That is rarely the case; what holds people back is themselves.
For a leader to reach their potential they need to be a “learner.” Most leaders would say they are a learner, but few are. Most people are “knowers” which means they are looking for validation, not truth. A great leader seeks truth, not validation. Being a learner means you like having your mind changed because it means you learned something new.
The best advice I can give any leader is to be a learner.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Bill:
Surround yourself with good people. Again, think who, not how.
Think big picture – don’t worry so much about how good you are at cutting down trees, make sure you are in the right forest.
Be a learner.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Bill: Effective teams require trust but often this takes a long time. To shortcut that process, I tell our teams we should not make people earn our trust; give trust until it is violated. This concept alone can shorten the time team effectiveness by months or years.
Secondly, we often talk about the idea of not being silent liars. We want everyone to feel safe speaking up and we work to provide an environment where that happens.
Any leader who can do these two things will see a clear improvement in team performance.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?
Bill: I have said innumerable times that without good product, nothing else matters. We must start any business with a product or service people are willing to buy at a fair price.
Our marketing teams are directed to focus on stories. We are fortunate to have so many great stories that people like to tell for us. People love sharing stories and will help get the word out if an organization will initially tell the story.
Our companies all sell premium product that tends to be more expensive. Most salespeople want to sell on price, but we cannot. I tell our salespeople to embrace our higher price. When a prospective customer brings up price we say “Well, of course we are more expensive, and here’s why”.
We tend to look at many decisions through the lens of brand equity asking if what we are doing is making our brands more valuable. Short term profits are great but if a leader builds brand equity they will ensure profits for a very long time.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Bill: At 16 when starting my first job my dad said, “It is easier to work hard than it is to look like you’re working hard.” That advice took me a long way in my first job and set the foundation for a great career.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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